Overview

History

Medicine Meets Virtual Realitywas conceived in 1991 to explore the healthcare utilization of rapidly evolving computing and communications technologies. Physicians, educators, scientists, and engineers gathered to assess how patient care and medical education could be enhanced by increasingly powerful and affordable computers and the newly emerging Internet. Each specialty brought its own skills and experience. By identifying and nurturing collaborative objectives, they understood that revolutionary tools could be created and existing practices transformed.

More than two decades later, the curriculum expanded beyond virtual reality to encompass a broader range of future-looking healthcare technologies. NextMed / MMVR continued to unite experienced researchers with tomorrow's leaders while they shared current breakthroughs and strategize new directions. Their multidisciplinary expertise generated a unique perspective on what's now and what's next in medicine.

Who Attended

NextMed / MMVR was an international conference that welcomed the participation of:

Physicians and other medical professionals interested in computer-enabled advances that make patient care more effective, accurate, and affordable

IT engineers and medical device developers who needed to understand caregivers' needs in order to direct projects toward the best outcome

Medical educators and students involved with the transfer of knowledge to the next generation of physicians and fellow providers

Military medicine specialists addressing the special demands of battlefield care and warrior rehabilitation

Biomedical futurists, investors, policy-makers, and others who created and evaluated scenarios for healthcare's future

Mission Statement

NextMed / MMVR promoted the creation and adoption of IT-enabled tools for patient care and medical education that support better precision, efficiency, and outcomes. The curriculum combined traditional assessment methods with unorthodox problem-solving to stimulate forward-thinking solutions to healthcare problems.